Chapter 12
Preston smiled.
Not because he had won.
Because Sebastian finally looked furious.
“There he is.”
Lucinda stepped toward him.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing permanent.”
Sebastian’s eyes hardened.
Preston shrugged.
“She was supposed to eat one dessert.”
Lucinda’s face changed.
The gala pastries.
Sebastian turned immediately.
“Kitchen.”
A bodyguard ran.
Preston laughed softly.
“A little stomach trouble.”
“A worried father leaves the gallery.”
“The meeting begins.”
His tone became smug.
“Simple.”
Sebastian looked toward him.
“Elisa didn't eat dessert.”
Preston’s smile froze.
Lucinda stared.
Sebastian continued.
“She broke the vase before dinner.”
The timing changed.
Preston’s backup plan never started.
Lucinda looked toward the scissors still lying on a side table.
Her face collapsed.
Her cruelty had unintentionally kept Elisa away from the food.
That did not absolve her.
It made the night uglier.
A guard returned with a small pastry box.
One dessert had been marked beneath the plate with a tiny black dot.
Preston’s.
Not poison.
A powerful emetic obtained through one of his crews.
Enough to make a child violently ill.
Enough to pull Sebastian away.
Lucinda stared at her husband.
“You were going to make her sick.”
Preston rolled his eyes.
“Stop performing motherhood.”
His voice became vicious.
“You cut her hair ten minutes ago.”
Lucinda absorbed it.
No denial.
He continued.
“At least I needed something from the child.”
“You did it because you hated her.”
Lucinda’s eyes filled.
Sebastian watched.
The ugliest truth in the room.
Preston had used Elisa.
Lucinda had hurt Elisa for free.
No strategy.
No necessity.
Just resentment.
Lucinda looked toward Sebastian.
“I have no excuse.”
Preston laughed.
“Pathetic.”
Sebastian turned toward him.
“No.”
His voice remained low.
“For the first time tonight, she said something useful.”
Preston’s eyes narrowed.
The two capos who met with him stepped away.
Literally.
A few feet.
But the message was clear.
Preston’s control was evaporating.
He saw it.
So he reached for his last weapon.
“The third capo.”
Sebastian’s eyes sharpened.
Preston smiled.
“You still haven't asked who he is.”
“Who?”
Preston’s smile widened.
“Someone you won't remove.”
Lucinda’s breathing changed.
She knew.
Sebastian looked at her.
“Who?”
Lucinda whispered:
“Orlando.”
Every head turned toward the old capo.
He had been standing beside Sebastian all night.
The man revealing Salvatore’s secrets.
The man guiding them through every hidden room.
May you like
Orlando closed his eyes.
The betrayal had been standing inside Sebastian’s circle from the beginning.
